“Intensely engrossing ... A damning portrait of both Clinton and American politics.” – Publisher's Weekly

Hillary Rodham Clinton is one of the most powerful women in world politics, and the irrational right-wing hatred of Clinton has fed her progressive appeal, helping turn her into a feminist icon. To get a woman in the White House, it’s thought, would be an achievement for all women everywhere, a kind of trickle-down feminism.

In the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, the mantle of feminist elect has descended on Hillary Clinton, as a thousand viral memes applaud her, and most mainstream feminist leaders, thinkers, and organizations endorse her. In this atmosphere, dissent seems tantamount to political betrayal.

In False Choices, an all-star lineup of feminists contests this simplistic reading of the candidate. A detailed look at Hillary Clinton’s track record on welfare, Wall Street, criminal justice, education, and war reveals that she has advanced laws and policies that have done real harm to the lives of women and children across the country and the globe. This well-researched collection of essays restores to feminism its revolutionary meaning, and outlines how it could transform the United States and its relation to the world.

Is this book sexist?No. The contributors are radical and feminist, and almost all are women. But sometimes even men write things about Hillary that are not sexist.

Aren’t you helping the Republicans?Only if you think that even one person will read a book by a coven of leftwing feminists, find it convincing, and conclude that she should vote for one of those misogynistic reactionaries.

Isn’t this the wrong time?No. It’s never too late or too soon to criticize someone who is about to become the most powerful individual on earth. If you think there’s ever a time to withhold comment on such a person, you might be an authoritarian.

Don’t you care about feminism?Yes. That’s why we did this.

Reviews

“This collection of essays deconstructs Hillary’s problematic history as a candidate who professes to be a feminist but whose policies have been pretty straight garbage for the nation’s vulnerable since the start.”

“Intensely engrossing for Hillary Clinton’s left-wing opponents —and for left-leaning readers still on the fence…The powerfully critical essays reject the 'ruling class feminism' of Clinton in favor of a 'left feminism rooted in an understanding of women’s material conditions'…A damning portrait of both Clinton and American politics.”

“A refreshing read with a defiant tone [that] pulls no punches when it comes to the Clinton record, from the time she entered the corporate and political world up until her work as Obama's secretary of state…This book will give you the confidence to say: not in our name…The authors who contributed to False Choices provide us plenty of good company in the battles ahead.”

“False Choices: The Faux Feminism of Hillary Rodham Clinton is a good reminder of all of the ways, through a long political career, Clinton has valued power over justice…As False Choices makes clear, this election is not a progressive advancement, it is simply more of the same.”

In any case, what sticks out amidst this mass vote is a feeling of absurdity. The absurdity of a mechanism that brings to power a man we know nothing about, and who has grounded his success precisely in his capacity to say nothing (the back cover of his book Révolution has not one line of text, but just a full page photo of Macron himself). The absurdity of a system that gives a crushing majority to such a man, in order to avoid a danger that is largely imaginary. Most of all, the absurdity of a focus on elections that we all feel have nothing to do with our lives, and which we all feel are playing out on a sort of flying carpet, above our heads.